Coweta's water

users should be breathing a sigh of relief by the beginning of the week.

That's when

Coweta County will connect to the water lines from the city of Atlanta

and bring an additional source of water flowing into Coweta's taps.

County Administrator

Theron Gay said the county will receive at least 2.8 million gallons a

day.

The contract

between Coweta County and Atlanta also calls for up to 15 million gallons

of drinking water per day within five years based on improvements to the

Atlanta Water System.

The water being

purchased from will be priced at approximately 90 cents per thousand gallons

under an agreed rebate program, which is designed to offer reduced water

rates to Coweta County as a means to repay the county for the cost of

needed water lines outside the county's borders.

After the rebate,

the water price is set to be $1.25 per thousand gallons. Newnan Utilities,

currently the sole provider of water to the county system, charges $1.45

per thousand gallons.

Coweta County's

water system currently uses an average of five million gallons of water

per day and peaked at approximately nine million gallons during 2000.

While the contract

with the city of Atlanta provides an immediate boost to the county's available

water supply, it is by no means the only avenue being worked on by the

Board of Commissioners to provide additional water for the county's system

Also in hand

is a contract with the city of Griffin to provide up to 10 million gallons

of water per day incrementally beginning in 2004-2005, based on completion

of new treatment and storage facilities.

Work also is

progressing on a treatment facility at the B.T. Brown Reservoir in northwestern

Coweta County that will provide between six and eight million gallons

per day. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2003.